CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Scientists need the same sort of computer breakthrough that the spreadsheet brought to business users decades ago, says Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer.
Mundie gave a speech at Harvard University here on Tuesday to discuss coming "disruptions" in computing and to argue that computer science is fundamental to solving daunting global problems, including energy, environment, health care, and education.
Without taking advantage of advances in computing, adjacent fields of nanotechnology and biotechnology will not move as fast as they could, he said. At the same time, he lamented how computer science is seen as "so yesterday."
"It's stunning how much people want to fund the fads and they don't put any emphasis on how core computing is," Mundie said during questions. "I hope we can come together and realize that we have to invest in the future of computing if we want a future in all these other areas."
Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer urges students to think about coming disruptions in computing.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)The Harvard talk was one of four Mundie is giving this week in an effort to stir excitement in the study of computing, with both computer science students and people in other fields, such as medicine or material science. Less than 100 students and faculty came to the Harvard talk on Tuesday where he demonstrated some of how Microsoft's research can be applied to energy and the environment.
Computing is becoming increasingly embedded in everyday devices, in everything from phones to cars. But even though people are increasingly familiar with digital technologies, there are still disruptive changes on the near horizon, Mundie said.
"We think we understand it but in fact it's at a time that the flux in computing overall is as great as it's ever been," he said.
The amount of computation that's available will continue to increase with multicore processors, which will enable new applications. That includes what Microsoft calls "natural language processing," where people can interact with computers in more intuitive ways than the familiar mouse and graphical user interface. An example is Microsoft's Project Natal, motion-sensing technology where people can use arms and legs to play games.
Two other big technology changes, he said, are three-dimensional displays and cloud computing, where people can tap banks of servers over the Internet for data-intensive jobs.
High-end demos
Mundie showed Microsoft Computational Science Studio, a tool designed by Microsoft Research in the U.K. to allow scientists to run complex and data-intensive computer simulations.
Science Studio could be used to project the impact of rain forest deforestation in South America on other regions of the world. The tool is designed to help experts from different disciplines create a model around different sources of data and visualize simulations.
In this example, the application tapped data centers off-site to run simulations of how changes to the rate of deforestation would affect average temperatures in the U.S.
Generating these models is very practical not just to scientists but to policy makers as well, Mundie said. "Is it better to pay the Brazilians not to cut down trees or to develop genetically engineered crops that can grow in temperatures that are five degrees hotter?" he said. "Those are the kind of choices that our society is going to have to deal with."
In another demo, Mundie showed how a researcher can optimize output from a wind farm. Using an 8-processor computer with a three-dimensional display and pen-based input, Mundie was able to view how different wind turbine blade shapes affect wind flow.
Several energy technology companies are already using IT aggressively. The idea of the smart grid is essentially overlaying digital communications and controls onto the electricity grid. Start-up eSolar uses embedded processors on thousands of mirrors to track the sun and generate the most heat possible with its solar concentrator.
Cloud computing opens up more possibilities for far-reaching energy research, Mundie said. One example is TerraPower, a Seattle-area nuclear power company that has attracted Bill Gates and former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold as investors.
TerraPower is designing a "traveling-wave nuclear reactor" that could use the spent fuel from traditional nuclear reactors and make electricity from it for decades. To speed its research, the company is using high-end computation, which only now is accessible to start-up companies because of cloud computing, Mundie said.
"These are the types of technologies where scientists, engineers, and computer scientists have to come forward, explore them and, if we can make them work, then of course they represent a real discontinuity in the quest for high-scale, zero carbon energy sources," he said.
Fuel efficiency is the No. 1 factor in equipment purchases within the trucking industry, a new report from IBM says.
At the same time, brand name has fallen to the bottom of the criteria list and "faces the risk of slow death," according to the report.
The combination of those two factors means that new players in the trucking industry will give established brands a run for their money.
(Credit:
IBM)
"The truck ecosystem will thrive because of--rather than in spite of--a chaotic introduction of new players," the report said.
"Truck 2020: Transcending Turbulence," which came out of IBM's Institute for Business Value, was based on interviews of 91 executives from 13 countries and from across the industry, including truck and bus original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers, regulators, and industry associations.
The trucking industry has been faced with financial hurdles, higher energy costs, and the image as a polluter in recent years, according to IBM. And the necessary advances for the industry are not restricted to strides in fuel efficiency.
Telematics will also be key, the report said. Evaluating and diagnosing vehicles remotely and in real time will be a useful tool in preventative maintenance. It will cut down on unexpected breakdowns that disrupt service and that cost trucking companies time and money, according to the report. Telematics tools that collect real-time data can also be useful for curbing litigation over accidents, the report noted.
While the growing significance of telematics may be entirely true, it should be noted that IBM has a vested interest in that field.
Big Blue has said it sees automotive computing as the company's next frontier and has been actively developing telematics and infrastructure technology for at least the last six years.
As far back as 2003, IBM began developing XML-based data retrieval architecture that would allow vehicles to receive real-time traffic and speed data from highways. In 2005, it signed a $125 million telematics deal with United Arab Emirates. And in 2006, it began partnering with manufacturer Magna Electronics to develop smart car parts.
Google PowerMeter software monitors home energy usage in real time and can be accessed from a person's iGoogle home page.
(Credit: Google)U.K. residents will now be able to monitor and regulate their home energy usage from any Web-enabled phone or computer regardless of whether their energy provider uses smart meters.
Google announced two U.K. partnerships this week concerning its PowerMeter software, one of which completely bypasses the need for cooperation from an energy provider.
Since the U.K. electricity and gas supplier First Utility began offering customers free smart meters in September 2008, it has had 30,000 customers take them up on the offer. Now, as a result of a Google partnership announced Tuesday, First Utility smart meter customers will have the option of allowing their info to be relayed to Google's PowerMeter so their smart meter data and control can be Web-accessible. The service will become available to Midlands customers in early November 2009, and eventually extend it to the entire U.K.
Google also announced Wednesday that its PowerMeter software will be compatible with AlertMe, a U.K. self-install energy monitoring system that works regardless of a resident's energy provider or the type of meter installed in the home.
Unlike smart meters, the AlertMe system does not communicate with an electricity utility's smart grid to advise on low-peak usage hours. It consists of a meter reader that clips on to a home's existing electric meter, smart plug adapters for appliances, and a wireless hub that plugs into a home's broadband connection. The hub wirelessly communicates between the meter reader, smart plugs, and AlertMe service.
AlertMe's smart plug, meter reader, and wireless hub.
(Credit: AlertMe)The device's non-evasive nature makes it an option for renters as well as homeowners. And AlertMe is clearly attempting to target that renter market by pointing out in its quirky infomercials (see video below) that its device is unobtrusive. Unlike smart meters, it does require the usual landlord permission to be installed.
The kits costs 69 British pounds ($113) plus a required 12-month contract for its 2.99 pounds-per-month ($4.90) communication service, which requires that the home have broadband access. The total cost, including one free month of service, comes to 101.89 pounds ($167.55).
On Wednesday, the company also announced the start of its trial with British Gas on an AlertMe kit for monitoring and controlling heating from gas that will tie into the gas utility's smart meters. Since AlertMe monitors are now compatible with Google's PowerMeter, the software will be available to British Gas customers who join that smart meter program.
The Google PowerMeter software that ties in to First Utility, AlertMe, and (by default) the British Gas trial program, is currently free. It makes real-time usage data collected from the companies available by cell phone or computer. The data can then be charted in hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly segments for analysis, allowing users to basically conduct their own personal green-living and energy-usage experiments.
A person could test if shutting off their TV and its electronic accouterments for one week, as opposed to leaving them in standby mode, really makes a dent in their home's overall energy consumption. AlertMe subscribers could also use the PowerMeter software to remotely turn specific appliances on or off.
Both AlertMe and First Utility have said they've found their consumers really do tend to adjust their usage habits to save energy and money, once they come face to face with their own usage data.
"At the end of the day, if you can't measure and view your energy use, it's very difficult to make savings," First Utility's CEO Mark Daeche said in a statement.
CA next week will unveil an integrated sustainability suite designed to track carbon emissions, environmental assessments, metering, and compliance to policies in one dashboard.
CA calls the suite EcoSoftware and will launch it Monday, according to Christopher Thomas, vice president of energy and sustainability. I ran into Thomas at the Gartner IT Symposium, where the carbon-monitoring software caught my eye.
There are other efforts designed to track carbon emissions. For instance, Hara and SAP have various applications and others use metering to measure sustainability efforts.
Read more of "CA jumps into eco software market; Plans to launch carbon tracking suite" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.
An updated software tool combines energy-use evaluation with Google's 3D-modeling program to help improve building design in its early stages.
OpenStudio, a free, open-source tool introduced last year, now integrates EnergyPlus building analysis with Google SketchUp, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced this week.
"OpenStudio is lauded around our office as one of the most complicated plug-ins ever written for SketchUp," Christopher Cronin, Google's strategist for SketchUp, said in a statement.
While Google may see OpenStudio as a plug-in for SketchUp, OpenStudio's creators may instead see SketchUp as an add-on to its simulation program.
The NREL, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, launched the original version of OpenStudio in April 2008. NREL reports an average of 700 OpenStudio downloads per month.
OpenStudio's first version combined a graphical tool with EnergyPlus, a software program for analyzing building energy-use that the DOE began offering in 2001. "EnergyPlus is a standalone simulation program that models whole-building energy consumption from heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, water systems and other energy flows," according to NREL.
For example, the program can simulate the sun's movement around a building at various times of day for an entire year to determine if windows have been effectively shaded.
"Our hope is that by using OpenStudio in design charrettes, users can start throwing away designs at the very beginning of a project, saying: 'This is not a good design because we're going to use too much energy," Nick Long, an NREL engineer who helped develop OpenStudio, said in a statement.
Feel like just about every utility, bank, and service company you use is asking you to sign up for their paperless option?
It's not your imagination. And you're about to be inundated with even more requests to opt-in to paperless communications, according to an IDC survey released Thursday.
Ninety-two percent of the 300 U.S. companies in IDC's "Green IT & Sustainability Survey 2009" said getting customers to move from print to online services is a goal they hope to initiate within 12 months.
The survey also shows an increased interest from companies in implementing green practices as a way to take advantage of their growing IT infrastructure. About 46 percent in the new survey said it was the second most important factor driving sustainability practices, compared with 31 percent in a 2008 survey.
The trend is attributed to the budget squeeze being placed on IT managers and their desire to show executives they're maximizing assets, as companies look to save money.
"Because they understand that much of their expanding infrastructure remains underutilized--adding to their company's capital and energy costs--green IT policies can help establish a more comprehensive approach to utilizing their assets," Vernon Turner, senior vice president of IDC's Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer and Telecom Research, said in a statement.
Saving energy, of course, remains the No. 1 reason companies are adopting sustainability practices with 64 percent of the respondents surveyed citing it as the most important factor in their decisions.
IDC surveyed 1,653 companies in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S. That included the 300 surveyed in the U.S. The survey represented a cross-section of industries that included banking, manufacturing, health care, government, and transportation.
Researchers at Purdue University have had a breakthrough that may completely change how engineers design cooling systems in everything from computers to electric and hybrid cars.
Using special computer chips from Delphi Electronics, Suresh Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, and doctoral student Tannaz Harirchia, have developed and tested new mathematical formulas concerning the properties of boiling liquids in "microchannels."
Purdue University doctoral student Tannaz Harirchia holding up the computer chip she and professor Suresh Garimella (right) used to develop new formulas concerning 'microchannels.'
(Credit: Purdue University)It's no secret that engineers, particularly chipmakers and computer manufacturers, have been striving for years to design cooling systems with highly efficient heat-transfer rates.
Microchannels are tiny channels through which fluid is directed in some types of high-power electronic cooling systems. Purdue University researchers have been working on the idea of microchannel heat sinks, as well as liquid-filled chips, for some time. IBM has also been developing a liquid-based chip-cooling concept.
Garimella and Harirchia have now determined that "allowing a liquid to boil in cooling systems dramatically increases how much heat can be removed, compared to simply heating a liquid to below its boiling point," according to their report.
"Boiling occurs differently in tiny channels than it does in ordinary size tubing used in conventional cooling systems," Garimella said in a statement.
Details of the breakthrough will be presented on October 8 in Belgium at Therminic 2009, an annual conference on thermal research and technology for microelectronics.
Having come up with a new way to assess fluid boiling in microchannels, Garimella and Harirchia now plan to concentrate on developing heat-transfer models engineers can use when designing cooling systems for high-power electronics.
Conducted in conjunction with Delphi Electronics, the research was funded by Indiana's 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, and Purdue-based National Science Foundation Cooling Technologies Research Center, a consortium of corporate, academic, and government laboratories.
SOUTHBURY, Conn.--IBM's "green" data center here is kind of like a techie version of the "This Old House" television show. But in this case, the project was to build a showcase for energy-efficiency computing, rather than construct a new addition for a suburban home.
IBM's main problem was data center sprawl. Five years ago, internal IT staff could barely keep up with growing demand for computing resources from employees, causing an expansion from one data center location to four--a situation that was costly and inefficient.
Now, those four data centers have been consolidated into a single spot with the latest in energy-efficient tech gear, including a network of 200 sensors and water-cooled servers. It also uses what are considered the best practices for physically laying out a data center, with close attention to everything from cabling to air flow.
Making data centers more energy efficient has been a growing priority for technology managers for the past few years, as companies seek to trim spending on electricity and reduce their environmental footprint. The Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 estimated that data centers alone use about 1.5 percent of all electricity in the U.S. and are on a pace to double consumption in the coming years. In IBM's case, it deals with high volumes--its wikis are used by 365,000 people--and a growing number of applications.
IBM's tech staff did what many others in their position have done: they consolidated their computing workload with virtualization and upgraded to new, more energy-efficient hardware.
But packing more servers--each with multicore processors--into smaller spaces creates more heat, exacerbating the challenge of keeping the space cool. IBM is using a number of techniques to cool efficiently, but the guiding principle is to match the cooling with the required heating load.
"You have to physically integrate the IT and physical (cooling) equipment so you can adjust the air conditioning to match the thermal load--the system should be very dynamic," said Peter Guasti, program director for IBM's Green Innovations Data Center.
Just office buildings or hotels heat or cool rooms even when there are no people in them, many data centers operators don't have fine-grained control over cooling systems. That means the temperature can be set lower than it needs to be or a "hot spot" emerges when one piece of equipment has a heavy computing load.
Combining IT and building architecture
To keep the air conditioning well tuned, IBM is gathering lots of data. Sensors are placed behind, in front of, and top of server and storage racks to monitor the temperature. The data is collected and analyzed so that the air and water cooling systems can be automatically adjusted as needed, Guasti explained.
Operators can get a "thermal map" of the data center based on the sensor data to help find trouble spots. They are also beta testing an upcoming version of IBM's Tivoli Energy Management software, which will be able to incorporate the sensor data into the systems management program.
"The bright idea is not so much putting the sensors in. It's what you do with the data--you get reams of information so you have to try to figure out what's important and not," Guasti said.
Air flows along a predetermined path with "cold aisles" pumping cooled air to the front of equipment from the floor and hot air behind server fans being sucked upward from the ceiling in "hot aisles."
To lighten the overall cooling load, IBM is using its liquid-cooling systems, originally code-named Cool Blue, which fit onto the back of server racks. These heat exchangers cool the hot air coming from servers' fans by circulating cold water through coils, which absorb the server heat and then are cooled using the building's chiller.
IBM is looking at a variety of other ways to lower energy consumption, including using solid-state hard drives and using outside air--filtered to clean out contaminants and humidity--to cool the building, Guasti said.
Saving green or green PR?
The Green Innovation Data Center was designed for tours so customers can get some ideas on how to lighten their own data centers' energy load. But it's not just for show--the center runs applications used by thousands of people.
And the investments IBM made in making the center more efficient are "very cost justified," said Patrick Toole, the company's newly named chief information officer, in an interview. IBM as a company has wrung $3 billion in costs over the past year, which it plans to continue, he said.
But the company measures the "payback" from upgrading its data center not only with energy savings and environmental benefits. It's also measured in business process improvements, Toole said.
For example, the data center allows IBM to operate an internal "cloud computer." Employees can procure computing resources--server processing and storage space, for example--for a certain amount of time on a subscription basis. In the past, employees asked the IT group to install a server for each new application, which is less efficient than a shared-resources model.
Also, the influx of data on energy use lets data center managers better track related costs.
"The instrumentation we have with what is going on is so much more granular than before. We haven't had dashboards with regard to the green aspects before," Toole said. "Now we can see things like energy on a smartphone and we're able to manage that."
Updated at 7:15 A.M. PT with corrected title for Toole and video added.
The Gates Center for Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)Please raise your hand if you've spent a lot of time in a basement environment while attempting to master one computer-related art or another.
I'm referring to any room with a noisy ventilation system, windows that don't open, and dim fluorescents overhead. You know the one. It was either so sweltering that you ended up wearing shorts in January, or kept so cold for the sake of the servers that you wore a scarf and fingerless gloves year-round.
Well, that universal rite of passage for computer lovers seems to be over for Carnegie Mellon University students thanks to a $20 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a $10 million gift from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, and several other donors.
The Gates Center for Computer Science and the Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies will officially open on September 22. The linked buildings will house research space, offices, conference rooms, laboratories, an auditorium, and classrooms for CMU's School of Computer Science.
Inside the atrium of the Gates Center.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)In announcing the scheduled September 22 opening ceremony at which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will speak, CMU also released updated information on the Green attributes of the Gates-Hillman complex.
Through landscaping and a series of five green roofs, the university has managed to "double the amount of green space that previously existed on the 5.6-acre site," according to CMU. Professors and students using the buildings will actually be able to breathe in the fresh air created by that surrounding green foliage because the Gates-Hillman complex has over 310 windows, "most of which can be opened."
The green roofs are each equipped with heat exchange system to limit energy loss in the ventilation system. They will also collect rainwater and snow melt (gray water) that will be directed to the building's toilets.
The nine-story Gates Center has seven atria, and roughly 21,000 square feet of interior glass to insure plenty of natural light throughout the building.
"I was truly captivated also by the many cuts and atria in the building (a couple having complex series of stairways reminiscent of Hogwarts). There is even an 'impluvium' that will allow weather--including rain and snow--to enter into the building, all the way to the central 'collaborative commons' area," Peter Lee, head of the Computer Science Department and future Office Director at DARPA, described in his blog.
Both buildings have individual thermostats for each room that can be manually controlled, and are additionally linked with motion sensors to detect when they are empty so they can adjust accordingly.
Rendering of an aerial view of the completed Gates-Hillman Complex.
(Credit: Carnegie Mellon University)While it's not officially open, professors and students have already moved in. Photos of the building have also appeared on The Tartan, CMU's student newspaper.
As you would expect, there's some nostalgia for the old facilities. Mark Stehlik, professor and assistant dean for undergraduate education at the School of Computer Science, had his dim, overcrowded office memorialized with a Gigapan snapshot, according to Lee.
Update 7:22 a.m. PDT: Photos were added to this story since it was originally published.
Making data centers more energy efficient has been elevated to a college degree.
IBM on Wednesday said it has developed a two-year associates degree in "green data center management" in collaboration with the Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Neb.
Existing technologies like virtualization can improve data center efficiently significantly. Emerging technologies such as this wireless sensor promise better control over equipment and facilities.
(Credit: Arch Rock)Starting in December, students will learn how to design and manage data centers to run efficiently in what IBM says is the first college degree in the subject. Classes will be offered online to remote students as well.
The Environmental Protection Agency in 2007 estimated that data centers alone use about 1.5 percent of all electricity in the U.S. and are on a pace to double consumption in the coming years. With existing technologies, energy use could be cut by 25 percent, representing up to $4 billion in savings, the EPA found.
Because of financial and environmental concerns, more data center operators are taking steps to cut energy use, such as consolidating server workloads and upgrading cooling systems. Companies such as IBM, HP, and IT consulting companies have practices in designing facilities to be more efficient.
The green IT degree from IBM and Metropolitan Community College covers technologies for consolidating computing work loads, including virtualization, as well as security and disaster recovery. The course work also addresses the nuts and bolts of building and managing a facility, such as cabling and monitoring.
The data center where the class will be taught, which will be stocked with IBM servers, was funded by a $1.8 million Department of Labor grant.
